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Category: Persecution

Demonising dissent: GN Saibaba’s death and the dark siede of UAPA’s manipulation

Demonising dissent: GN Saibaba’s death and the dark siede of UAPA’s manipulation


en | 13:32 | 2024

The News Minute / by Pooja Prasanna

From 2014 to 2022, 8,719 people were charged under the draconian UAPA. A majority are languishing in jail, with trials delayed and bail denied, as in the case of Professor GN Saibaba.
… In this week’s Let Me Explain, Pooja Prasanna looks at how jails mistreat people, how courts are complacent in denying justice and the blatant abuse of power by the police and governments where evidence and witnesses are fabricated or manipulated.
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Hunger strike called off for now | Not Produced in Court Despite Directions – Elgar Parishad Accused Go on Hunger Strike

Hunger strike called off for now | Not Produced in Court Despite Directions – Elgar Parishad Accused Go on Hunger Strike

Elgaar Parishad case undertrials on protest path for not being produced in court for successive hearings

20/10/2024

The Telegraph / by Pheroze L. Vincent

Non-availability of police escorts is a common reason for undertrials not being produced in courts across India
Seven inmates at the Taloja Central Prison in Navi Mumbai, awaiting trial in the 2018 Elgaar Parishad case, on Saturday evening ended the hunger strike that they had started on Friday to protest against police who didn’t produce them in court for successive hearings.
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by Sukanya Shantha @ sukanyashantha (Oct 20)

Update: The hunger strike has been called off for now.
The prison officials submitted an urgent application to the court & have assured them that they’ll be a produced before the NIA court on Oct 24.
If the seven men aren’t presented then, they plan to resume their hunger strike.



Not Produced in Court Despite Directions, Seven Elgar Parishad Accused Go on Hunger Strike

18/10/2024

The Wire / by The Wire Staff

The activists have not been produced before the court for the last three hearings in the case. Seven human rights defenders facing prolonged incarceration in the infamous Elgar Parishad case went on a hunger strike on Friday (October 18).
The activists have not been produced before the court for the last three hearings in the case. Today, despite a court order, the Navi Mumbai police failed to provide an escort team to take the incarcerated individuals from the Taloja central prison to the special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court located in south Mumbai, prompting the activists to announce their hunger strike.
Read more

Hany Babu moves Bombay High Court for bail

Hany Babu moves Bombay High Court for bail

Former Delhi University Professor Hany Babu Moves Bombay HC For Bail In Elgar Parishad-Maoist Links

17/10/2024

Free Press Journal / by Urvi Mahajani

When the plea was listed for hearing before a bench headed by Justice Bharati Dangre, on Wednesday, it was informed that another HC bench had decided bail pleas of co-accused. The bench then directed the HC registry to take appropriate steps to list the matter before the same bench.
Former Delhi University professor Hany Babu, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, has approached the Bombay High Court again seeking bail in the Bhima Koregaon violence case of 2018.
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Bhima Koregaon accused Hany Babu moves Bombay High Court for bail

16/10/2024

Bar & Bench / by Sahyaja MS

Babu was arrested on July 28, 2020, on charges of being a member of the CPI (Maoist) and being involved in an alleged conspiracy to attack Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Delhi University professor Hany Babu has approached the Bombay High Court again seeking bail in the Bhima Koregaon violence case of 2018.
Read more


Jailed academic Hany Babu moves Bombay High Court for bail

16/10/2024

Maktoob / by Maktoob Staff

Delhi University professor and human rights defender Hany Babu, who has been languishing in jail under the draconian UAPA since 2020, has approached the Bombay High Court again, seeking bail in the 2018 Bhima Koregaon violence case.
Read more


Also read:
Hany Babu completes four years in prison without bail, trial (Maktoobmedia.com / Jul 2024)
Ex-DU prof Hany Babu withdraws bail plea in Supreme Court (Hindustan Times / May 2024)

GN Saibaba’s death puts spotlight back on plight of incarcerated activists / Various Statements

GN Saibaba’s death puts spotlight back on plight of incarcerated activists / Various Statements

G.N. Saibaba’s 2017 Prison Letter Sheds Light on the Rights of Disabled Prisoners

17/10/2024

The Wire / by Sukanya Shantha

‘I have refused to be carried to a government hospital outside the prison because I was once treated like baggage.’
Professor G.N. Saibaba wrote a letter to disability rights activist Muralidharan from Nagpur central prison in October 2017.
It had been only a few months since Saibaba, a wheelchair user with over 90% disability, was handed a life sentence under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
Read more


‘Failing to grasp’ his immense pain, would GN Saibaba’s death haunt judiciary?

16/10/2024

Counterview / by Vidya Bhushan Rawat

The death of Prof. G.N. Saibaba in Hyderabad should haunt our judiciary, which failed to grasp the immense pain he endured. A person with 90% disability, yet steadfast in his convictions, he was unjustly labeled as one of India’s most ‘wanted’ individuals by the state, a characterization upheld by the judiciary. In a democracy, diverse opinions should be respected, and as long as we uphold constitutional values and democratic dissent, these differences can strengthen us.
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People, politicians pay last tributes to Sai Baba

15/10/2024

Times of India / by TNN

“Long live, long live, Sai Baba long live” slogans reverberated as people paid tributes to the former Delhi University (DU) professor GN Sai Baba on Monday. Sai Sai Baba died on Saturday while undergoing treatment for a gall bladder ailment at Nizam’s Institute of Medical Science (NIMS).
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A Decade In Jail And A Death Foretold

15/10/2024

Free Press Journal / by FPJ Editorial

The death of G N Saibaba at the age of 57 is a severe indictment of the political system and the judiciary of the country that kept the wheel-chair bound academic incarcerated for nearly 10 years under the draconian Unlawful Activities Prevention Act until he was finally acquitted of all charges by the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court earlier this year.
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GN Saibaba death: UAPA has no place in a democracy | Mihir Desai Inverview | Pooja Prasanna


en | 21:40 | 2024
Former Delhi University professor and activist Dr GN Saibaba, who had become a symbol of state repression, passed away on Saturday, October 12, at the age of 58. This comes just seven months after his acquittal in a UAPA case which alleged that he was involved with Maoists.
…TNM’s Pooja Prasanna spoke to senior advocate Mihir Desai on Dr Saibaba’s death, UAPA and indian prisons. Mihir Desai as been the legal counsel for many who have faced UAPA including Father Stan Swamy and Dr Saibaba
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G N Saibaba was killed by wrongful imprisonment and medical neglect

14/10/2024

Peoples Dispatch / by Peoples Dispatch

Human rights defender and academic G N Saibaba was over 90% handicapped and during his years in prison was repeatedly denied bail by the courts and denied timely treatment for his various medical issues.
Human rights defender and academic, G N Saibaba (57) died on Saturday, October 12 at Nizam Institute of Medical Sciences Hospital in Hyderabad due to cardiac arrest. His death took place merely seven months after being released from a decade of wrongful imprisonment in Indian jails.
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When the state turns rogue even protests dry up, Salutes & Apologies Professor Saibaba!

14/10/2024

Sabrangindia / by Teesta Setalvad

If there is one unique and malevolent achievement of the present Indian state in its third, albeit less armoured term, it is, how it has through its venal acts, battered down alliances and voices of protest; GN Saibaba’s death after a long and deliberately negligent incarceration is the latest of one such
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GN Saibaba’s death puts spotlight back on plight of incarcerated activists

14/10/2024

The Federal / by The Federal

Dissent is not easy in India. After his acquittal this March, Saibaba publicly said he was repeatedly tortured and subjecte to abuse while in prison
The demise of former Delhi University professor and human rights activist GN Saibaba in Hyderabad on Saturday (October 12) has once again put the spotlight on the alleged injustice and torture being faced by the activists who are in prison under various charges like having links with Maoists.
Read more


Stan Swamy parallel in former DU professor Gokarakonda Naga Saibaba’s death after 10-year jail

14/10/2024

The Telegraph / by Pheroze L. Vincent

A polio patient, Saibaba was paralysed below his waist and developed life-threatening complications in his Nagpur prison that he blamed on poor living conditions and inadequate medical treatment. Saibaba had gone on hunger strike several times in protest
Former Delhi University professor Gokarakonda Naga Saibaba, a paraplegic acquitted seven months ago after spending a decade in jail on terror charges, died on Saturday of complications following gall bladder surgery at a Hyderabad hospital. He was 57.
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The National Platform for the Rights of the Disabled expresses deep shock and profound anguish at the untimely death of Dr. G N Saibaba

13/10/2024

Countercurrents / by National Platform for the Rights of the Disabled (NPRD)

The National Platform for the Rights of the Disabled expresses deep shock and profound anguish at the untimely death of Dr. G N Saibaba.
It was just a few months ago that he was released after being incarcerated for ten long years. He was implicated in false cases and had to continuously wage legal battles before finally being acquitted by the Supreme Court. Unfortunately, it was a freedom that was short-lived.
Read more


Saibaba’s Death Was Institutional Murder by the Centre: Activists

13/10/2024

Deccan Chronicle / by DC Correspondent

Rights activists and political parties termed the death of Prof. G.N. Saibaba as institutional murder resulting from his incarceration for nine years. They drew parallels with Father Stan Swamy, an 84-year-old Jesuit priest and tribal rights activist, who died in hospital while in custody after being denied basic needs like a drinking straw and sipper.
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G.N. Saibaba’s Life Is Not Just a Chronicle of His Times, but Also What the Times Refused to Chronicle

13/10/2024

The Wire / by Saroj Giri

He was just letting us back into his life after all the pain and suffering he had endured. And then he was taken away.
We must now think of Saibaba as someone who could not finish telling us his story. We must have imaginary conversations with him, so that we can hear him. We gasped for Father Stan Swamy, for Pandu Narote, to commune with them. Now, we are gasping for Saibaba, who has been snuffed out of our lives so suddenly.
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Prof G N Saibaba a victim of our insensitive system

13/10/2024

Countercurrents / by Vidya Bhushan Rawat

The death of Prof G N Saibaba in Hyderabad yesterday should haunt our judiciary which were unable to rise up and understand the pain he was going through. That a person with 90% disability yet full of convictions was made as India’s most ‘wanted’ person by the state, equally endorsed by the judiciary as well. I have mentioned it many time that in democracy people might have divergent views and as long as we have faith in constitutional values and democratic dissent, these views ultimately strengthen us.
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▪ Video: State’s Job is to Serve People, Not Punish Them: G N Saibaba


en | 38:33 | 2024

Newsclick / by Newsclick Team

Former DU professor G.N. Saibaba, who passed away in Hyderabad on Saturday, had recounted his harrowing ordeal during 10 years in jail at a press conference in New Delhi in March this year.
Watch video


Also read:
Some personal reflections on prison medical care (The Leaflet | Vernon Gonsalves | Apr 2024)
Was the trial judge who convicted G.N. Saibaba biased? We will never know, and that is part of the injustice (The Leaflet / March 2024)
‘It Is Only by Chance That I Came Out of Prison Alive’: G.N. Saibaba (The Wire / March 2024)

‘Target dissenting individuals’: NIA conducts raids across Bengal in alleged Maoist link probe

‘Target dissenting individuals’: NIA conducts raids across Bengal in alleged Maoist link probe

Counterview / by Our Representative 

In the predawn hours of October 1, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) executed raids at 12 locations throughout West Bengal, targeting the residences of several activists in connection with alleged “Maoist links.” The agency confiscated mobile phones and laptops belonging to numerous individuals during these searches, which reportedly resulted in significant property damage. 
Several activists received notices to report for further questioning at the NIA’s office in Ranchi.
Read more


Also read:
India: Submission to the UN Human Rights Committee on the deterioration of civic space (CIVICUS /Jul 2024)
McCarthyism in INDIA?: The Return of The Urban Naxal Bogey! (The Crossbill /Jul 2024)
Chronology Samajhiye: 5 Days, 4 Agencies Under Modi Govt Control Target Opposition, Journalists, Activists (The Wire | Soumashree Sarkar | Oct 6, 2023)

Bombay HC Benches Recuse From Hearing Plea To Clear Father Stan Swamy’s Name

Bombay HC Benches Recuse From Hearing Plea To Clear Father Stan Swamy’s Name

Live Law / by Narsi Benwal

Last month, Bombay High Court judge Justice Revati Mohite-Dere recused from hearing a plea filed in December 2021 by the next of kin of Father Stan Swamy, who sought clearing the now deceased (Swamy’s) name from the Bhima-Koregaon case.
The plea filed by Father Fraser Mascarenhas, the former principal of Xavier’s College in Mumbai, recently came up for hearing before a bench of Justices Mohite-Dere and Prithviraj Chavan.
Read more


Also read/watch:
Indian court again refuses to hear Stan Swamy case (UCA News / Sep 2024)
When Push Comes to Shove: Tracking Judicial Recusals and Transfers (The Wire / Apr 2023)

▪ Video: Testimony of Stan Swamy, two days before his arrest on 8 October 2020.


en | 7:48 min | Oct 6, 2020
Watch video

Indian court again refuses to hear Stan Swamy case

Indian court again refuses to hear Stan Swamy case

Indian court again refuses to hear Stan Swamy case

23/09/2024

UCA News / by UCA News reporter

This is the eighth time that a judge has declined to perform the legal duties citing a conflict of interest
The top court of India’s Maharashtra state has, for an eighth time, refused to hear a plea seeking to clear late Jesuit Father Stan Swamy from an anti-terror case that includes a plot to kill Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Justice Revati Mohite-Dere of the Bombay High Court recused herself from hearing the plea on Sept. 20 that wanted to remove Swamy’s name from the seven-year-old Elgar Parishad-Bhima Koregaon case filed against 16 leading activists in the country.
Read more


HC’s Justice Revati Mohite-Dere Recuses Self From Hearing Plea For Late Father Stan Swamy

22/09/2024

Free Press Journal / by Urvi Mahajani

Justice Revati Mohite-Dere of the Bombay High Court recused herself from hearing the plea filed by Father Frazer Mascarenhas, former principal of St Xavier’s College, seeking clearance of Father Stan Swamy’s name from the 2018 Elgar Parishad-Bhima Koregaon case.
Justice Revati Mohite-Dere of the Bombay High Court recused herself from hearing the plea filed by Father Frazer Mascarenhas, former principal of St Xavier’s College, seeking clearance of Father Stan Swamy’s name from the 2018 Elgar Parishad-Bhima Koregaon case.
Read more


Also read/watch:
Apologize for what happened to Father Stan Swamy: Ex-SC judge Kurian Joseph (The New Indian Express / Sep 2024)
When Push Comes to Shove: Tracking Judicial Recusals and Transfers (The Wire / Apr 2023)
Incriminating document found in Fr. Stan Swamy’s computer ‘planted’; similar tampering found in other Bhima Koregaon accused: Reports American forensic firm (The Leaflet / Dec 2022)

▪ Video: Testimony of Stan Swamy, two days before his arrest on 8 October 2020.


en | 7:48 min | Oct 6, 2020
Watch video

BK-16 Prison Diaries: Ramesh Gaichor on the Elgar prisoners’ defiance of the neo-Peshwai prison system

BK-16 Prison Diaries: Ramesh Gaichor on the Elgar prisoners’ defiance of the neo-Peshwai prison system

To mark six years of the arbitrary arrests and imprisonment of political dissidents in the Bhima Koregaon case, The Polis Project is publishing a series of writings by the BK-16, and their families, friends and partners. By describing various aspects of the past six years, the series offers a glimpse into the BK-16’s lives inside prison, as well as the struggles of their loved ones outside. Each piece in the series is complemented by Arun Ferreira’s striking and evocative artwork.

Credits: Drawing by Arun Ferreira / The Polis Project

BK-16 Prison Diaries: Ramesh Gaichor on the Elgar prisoners’ defiance of the neo-Peshwai prison system

19/09/2024

The Polis Project / by Ramesh Gaichor

Jinhe naaz hai Hind par unko lao
Jinhe naaz hai Hind par woh kahaan hain?
(Bring those who are proud of this land
Where are they who are proud of this land?)

These lines of Sahir Ludhianvi, written shortly after the country gained independence, still strike a deep chord. But today, in what way will the neo-Peshwai government of this country receive these words, and what will it do to poets and song-writers like Sahir?
Perhaps it will put them behind towering impenetrable walls, erected over segregated acres of land, under the watchful eye of 24-hour security guards, armed with firearms, lathis, and belts.
Read more


Also read:
BK-16 PRISON DIARIES: SAGAR GORKHE’S PARENTS ARE STRUGGLING IN HIS ABSENCE (THE POLIS PROJECT / JULY 2024)
BK-16 PRISON DIARIES: RAMESH GAICHOR’S PARENTS JUST WANT TO MEET HIM AGAIN BEFORE THEY DIE (THE POLIS PROJECT / JULY 2024)
BK-16 PRISON DIARIES: MINAL GADLING ON THE MANY CRUELTIES, IRONIES AND INJUSTICES OF SURENDRA’S IMPRISONMENT (THE POLIS PROJECT / JULY 2024)
BK-16 PRISON DIARIES: RUPALI JADHAV TRAVELS TEN HOURS FOR FLEETING EXCHANGES WITH JYOTI JAGTAP (THE POLIS PROJECT / JUNE 2024)
BK-16 PRISON DIARIES: JENNY ROWENA ON THE FEAR OF PRISONS AND THE BRAHMINICAL SYSTEM BEHIND IT (THE POLIS PROJECT / JUNE 2024)
BK-16 PRISON DIARIES: ANAND TELTUMBDE REFLECTS ON HIS ARREST AND INCARCERATION (THE POLIS PROJECT / JUNE 2024)
BK-16 PRISON DIARIES: STORIES OF LOVE, MURDER AND CHILD MARRIAGE FROM SHOMA SEN’S YEARS IN PRISONS (THE POLIS PROJECT / JUNE 2024)
BK-16 PRISON DIARIES: ARUN FERREIRA ON THE FARCE AND TRAGEDY OF THE PANDEMIC IN PRISON (THE POLIS PROJECT / JUNE 2024)
BK-16 PRISON DIARIES: VERNON GONSALVES ON THE STRUGGLE TO READ AND WRITE BEHIND BARS (THE POLIS PROJECT / JUNE 2024)
INTRODUCING THE BK-16 PRISON DIARIES SERIES (THE POLIS PROJECT / JUNE 2024)

Supreme Court To Consider Hearing Jyoti Jagtap & Mahesh Raut Matters Together

Supreme Court To Consider Hearing Jyoti Jagtap & Mahesh Raut Matters Together

Supreme Court to hear bail pleas of Jyoti Jagtap, Mahesh Raut together

22/08/2024

Bar & Bench / by Anadi Tewari

While Jagtap was arrested in 2020, Raut has been in jail since 2018.
The Supreme Court on Thursday said that it would hear the bail pleas of Jyoti Jagtap and Mahesh Raut, accused in the Bhima Koregaon case, together. (Jyoti Jagtap v. National Investigation Agency and anr)
Read more


Supreme Court To Consider Hearing Jyoti Jagtap & Mahesh Raut Matters Together

22/08/2024

Live Law / by Debby Jain

On being apprised that challenge to the bail granted to co-accused Mahesh Raut is pending before another bench, the Supreme Court bench dealing with the bail plea of activist and Bhima Koregaon case accused Jyoti Jagtap asked the Registry today to obtain orders for conjoint hearing of the two cases.
Read more


SC adjourns hearing on bail plea of Bhima Koregaon case accused Jyoti Jagtap

22/08/2024

Hindustan Times / by Abraham Thomas

The Supreme Court on Thursday adjourned hearing on the bail plea of Bhima Koregaon accused Jyoti Jagtap upon request by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to have the matter heard with another pending bail plea pertaining to co-accused Mahesh Raut.
Read more


Also read:
Supreme Court refuses to grant interim bail to jailed activist Jyoti Jagtap (The Hindu / Jul 2024)
‘Ominous portents’: Why High Court staying its own bail orders in Bhima Koregaon case is troubling (Scroll.in / Dec 2023)
Bhima Koregaon Case: Mahesh Raut, youngest accused, granted bail by the Bombay HC! (SabrangIndia / Sep 2023)
Inconsistencies in Bail Orders Mean Individual Liberty Is the Outcome of Judicial Lottery (The Wire / Oct 2022)

Supreme Court to hear Surendra Gadling’s bail plea in the 2016 Gadchiroli Arson Case

Supreme Court to hear Surendra Gadling’s bail plea in the 2016 Gadchiroli Arson Case


by Live Law / @LiveLawIndia (Aug 21):
#SupremeCourt to soon hear Dalit rights’ activist and advocate Surendra Gadling’s bail plea in the 2016 Gadchiroli Arson Case. The Nagpur-based lawyer is also among the 16 accused in the Bhima Koregaon case. Bench: Justices MM Sundresh and Aravind Kumar Gadling filed a special leave petition challenging the Bombay High Court’s decision to reject his bail application in the Gadchiroli arson case, which involved around 80 vehicles transporting iron ore from Surjagarh mines in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli district from allegedly being set on fire by Maoists in December 2016.


Also read:
Was the trial judge who convicted G.N. Saibaba biased? We will never know, and that is part of the injustice (The Leaflet / March 2024)
Gadchiroli arson case: Supreme Court issues notice in bail plea of Surendra Gadling (The Leaflet / Oct 2023)
Now Gadchiroli Police takes custody of Surendra Gadling, P Varavara Rao, prompting senior lawyers to say this is ‘ever-greening of charges’ (The Leaflet / Jan 2019)